The majority of severely damaged buildings in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province were schools and factories, a report prepared by scholars from three key universities of the country has revealed.
Experts from the Tsinghua University, Beijing Jiaotong University and Southwest Jiaotong University made the detailed findings after inspecting 384 buildings in seven cities of Sichuan soon after the earthquake.
The report, which was released to the press yesterday, suggests that among the 44 school buildings inspected, 10 should not be used anymore, while 15 should be “demolished immediately”.
In contrast, the scholars found that among the 54 government buildings they investigated, five should not be used and two must be demolished.
The remaining 47 government buildings are fit for use, the report said.
Sixty-nine percent of 92 commercial and residential buildings checked were fit for use, either right away or after reinforcements, the experts, who specialize in building construction, found.
They concluded that buildings “with a frame structure” - one supported by a frame of wood or steel or reinforced concrete - suffered the least damage.
Most government buildings used the frame structure, and therefore suffered the least damage, the report said.
However, most school and factory buildings used a masonry structure instead of the frame structure and thus suffered maximum damage, it said.
“The earthquake-proof performance of such masonry structure relies on rational anti-seismic design, strict implementation, and good construction quality,” it said.
The Sichuan earthquake destroyed or damaged 11,687 schools, leaving 5,335 students dead or missing and 546 disabled, according to official figures.
The China Economic weekly quoted an unnamed expert as saying: “The use of substandard material during construction and the inability to follow anti-seismic designs are reasons why the buildings in Sichuan suffered so much damage.”
However, the Sichuan provincial government released the results of investigations into collapsed structures on the earthquake’s first anniversary, stressing that it was impossible for the buildings to survive the 8-magnitude disaster.
Liu Zuoming, head of Sichuan provincial justice department, reportedly said that he did not support investigations to determine the responsibility of the collapsed structures.
Experts believe that the latest report by the three universities is “impartial”.
“We must give due respect to the facts. It’s okay if they don’t want to find out who is responsible for the collapsed buildings, but it’s not okay to blur the truth,” said activist Ai Weiwei, who has challenged the earthquake’s official death toll.
The government has expressed a zero-tolerance attitude toward physically weak and shoddy school structures nationwide.
The State Council, or the Cabinet, has begun a “school building reinforcement project” to ensure all structures housing schools are capable of withstanding natural disasters.
The country’s local government heads have been warned of harsh consequences following any incident involving unsafe structures in their administrative regions or any mismanagement with regard to the construction of school buildings.
The construction ministry also ruled last year that school buildings’ earthquake-proof level should be one degree higher than ordinary buildings.
The State Council vowed to make school buildings safe and reliable in a circular issued recently.